


33 Weeks and 5 Days

by Nindozi



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Dimension, F/M, Homicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 10:54:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nindozi/pseuds/Nindozi





	33 Weeks and 5 Days

“She smelt like rain. No, no she smelt like the smell after rain. What’s that called again?” 

“Petrichor.” I sighed. “Seriously, Jess? Is this ever going to end?”

Jess and I had been friends ever since I could remember, mainly because we had no one else to latch onto when they started the first grade. I came to the school a few weeks late, and Jess didn’t have a partner to sit beside yet, and history was made. Well, at least our history. And lately, it seems like our entire past chapters had been all about Jess and his crippling obsession with the new girl, Autumn. 

Jess pauses and looks up at me. “Have you seen her? She has the prettiest brown hair I’ve ever seen and–”

“Who even names their kid Autumn? It’s the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.” I huffed. 

“Uh dude, your name’s Ripple.” 

I laughed and started walking away from Jess. 

“Have fun analysing the seasons!” He yelled over his shoulder. 

Jess had advanced geography next period, and, how convenient, sat right beside Autumn. Not like it was an option that she had, really. On the first day of class, he has asked to see her schedule because he would, “help her find her way around” and “tell her where her classes were and how to get to them.” Honestly, it was more of a pathetic stalking method. He had waited for her in the hallway and ‘coincidently’ they were going to the same class. Right. He walked her to class and was quite persistent about her sitting beside him... in the back corner of the room. Now don’t get me wrong, Jess is a cool guy, and he’s not actually too bad on the eyes if I do say so myself, but he’s just very, well, relentless. He gets what he wants. And he wants her. 

As I walk to English, I look at the blank white walls of my school, and frankly, it’s distracting. The sad boring white used to make me want to rip my hair out, but now I’ve only got 2 years left to look at them, and then I’m leaving here. Forever. It’s comforting, but at the same time makes me want turn back time and be that first grader meeting the lonely boy named Jess, but we’re different people now. Jess actually grew into his face, and filled out over the years, and I just... grew in a upward motion. I’ve always been the sidekick, “Jess’ friend,” a background character in my own life. Jess was the star of the book that is my life. It never meant to be that way, but he’s just always been there in the spotlight. I remember convincing him to try out for football with me in the 7th grade. Jess didn’t even want to play, but I did, and he was there for moral support. He helped me practice for days upon days until the tryout. And guess who made the team? Jess. That was when I realized I’m not really a big sports person. Jess became the popular sports jock, and I was the geek who got straight A’s. Jess’ still pretty average with his school work, he always has been, he’s just really skilled at... everything I guess. I think the reason that we’re still friends is that we’re both able to stay grounded and humble about our differences, but Jess thinks it’s fate or something stupid like that. He always has a different hypothesis on it every time we talk about it. 

I heard a screech coming from behind me pulling me away from my thoughts. “Ripple!”  
I stopped dead in my tracks. I swiveled around but all I could see were students meandering around. I swear that voice belonged to Skye. 

“RIPPLE!” I heard her scream again. 

She burst though a small cluster of freshman and was sprinting right towards me. She was beaming. She leapt right into my arms and it felt like the whole world stopped. The clocks stopped ticking, the students all vanished, and we were the only things that mattered.  
“I thought you weren’t coming back until next semester?” I said into her shoulder. 

She pulled away from me and held my face in her hands. “My mom had to come back here on business, and we’re staying now. My dad comes back in a few months.” 

We hugged again. If you couldn’t tell, Skye’s my girlfriend. Well, she was. We met freshman year of high school, and we were doing great up until last year, 2nd semester. We had been going strong for over a year until the news was dropped on us like a bomb. Her dad was getting transferred to New Zealand for his work and she was swept up along with her whole life here in Mill Valley. Before she left, we kind of ended things, and not on a good note. I figured it was for the best, because I assumed she just wasn’t coming back. Her parents were never really too honest when it came to their work. To this day I’m still not entirely sure what they do. I just know it has something to do with a homegrown company they run full-time. 

I now realize how weird me must’ve looked. Just standing there in the middle of the hallway embracing. I head the bell ring that started the next class, but neither of us moved. Eventually, we peeled apart for long enough to leave the school. So what if I miss the next 2 periods? I can’t believe that Skye’s actually here with me. As we walked to my house she told me all about New Zealand. The people she met, the teachers of her school, the places she visited, it all seemed so surreal. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in my basement watching movies and catching up on the past half year. It only felt like 5 minutes before her mom called her and she had to go home to unpack all of her things. 

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?” She said as we stood on my front porch.

“Yeah. Sure.” I couldn’t help but feel like she was abandoning me. Again. Why couldn’t she stay the night? Stay forever?

I watched her as she walked down the street. Her legs rhythmically swaying and her short hair only moving slightly with every step. I went back inside and slumped onto the couch waiting for my mom to get home. The clock read 8:14, so I still had about an hour and half before she would get home. Right now, it’s just me and my mom. My dad left before I was born, and it was for the best. At least, that’s what my mom tells me. That’s all she’s ever told me. There’s been the occasional boyfriend for her, but they’ve never stuck. By 9:00 I was lying in bed trying to force myself to sleep because I couldn’t wait to see Skye again, and I fell asleep before I even heard my mom walk in the door. 

********

Skye wasn’t at school the next day, and I was a bit concerned, but not surprise. She always told me school was “not her scene,” but she promised me that she would be here. I walked into the front doors of the school and I felt a little funny. I walked up the stairs to meet Jess at his locker, and I kept getting dizzy every few steps. Maybe I was coming down with something? I pushed open the doors on the second floor and my arms felt incredibly weak. I looks at the palms of my hands and they were fuzzy. I walked over to Jess’ locker and looked up at him. He said something to me, but I couldn’t hear him. I could see his lips moving, but nothing was coming out. I looked around. Everything was getting fuzzy. Jess grabbed my shoulders and my body weight collapsed into him. 

_“Ripple.”_

_I opened my eyes to a very white room. A classroom? No. Too clean. There was a man standing in front of me. He was tall, had red hair, and a bit of red scruff on his chin and jaw line. He was standing there with an air of confidence that most people didn’t have._

_“Ripple, don’t freak out.” He said softly._

_Suddenly, I was incredibly sober and alert. “Oh god, am I dead? Oh god, are you god?”_

_The man laughed softly. “No, Ripple. You’re not dead. Just... unconscious.”_

_“Then who are you?” I asked panicked._

_“Well, I’m you Ripple.”_

_I laughed. “Oh yeah, well so am I. Nice to meet you ‘Ripple’.”_

_“Don’t sound so condescending, Ripple. I’m you. After you die.” The man said sitting on a silver chair behind him._

_“I die!?”_

_“Yes. Eventually. You just die when you’re 87.”_

_“You don’t look 87. Maybe, like, 30 or 40. And you don’t look anything like me. Wait, am I talking to a dead person? Oh my god, do I see dead people? Am I like that kid from The Sixth Sense, or am I like the new Ghost Whisperer?”_

_“Stop. Stop rambling. I’m here talking to you for a specific reason. And no, by the way, this is not what you look like when you’re 87. This is a vessel. I had to take a human form to speak to you.”_

_“So...”_

_“You’re here because I have a mission for you. And I don’t think you’re going to like it very much.”_

_“No. Stop. I don’t know who you are, or why you’re doing this but I want to go home. Now.”  
He paused with a surprising amount of patience. “I know this is hard for you, Ripple, but once I let you back into your life, you’re not going to remember our conversation directly, just what you need to do. It’ll be like you were never even gone.”_

_“Stop using my name in every sentence! You’re creeping me out. Please just let me go.”_

_The man got up and walked towards me. He extended his hand and placed two fingers on my forehead before I could hit his hand away, and suddenly, I knew. I don’t know how it happened, but I knew. He was me. Me after death._

_I bowed my head. “What do you need?”_

_“It’s about Skye.”_

_My head snapped up. “What? Is she okay? What’s wrong with her?”_

_He sighed and touched my hand. “Listen Ripple, this isn’t something you’re going to want to hear, but I have to tell you.”_

_I knitted my eyebrows together. I believed him. Why did I believe him? I needed to know. And he wouldn’t dare lie to me._

_“Wait, do we grow up and raise a family together?” I asked excitedly._

_“Not exactly...no.”_

_I’m confused. If I’m not with Skye, what happened to us? What happened to her? I’m so confused my brain hurts._

_“Ripple, Skye’s a bad person. She–”_

_“No!” I yelled. “Saying you’re me after death is one thing, but saying Skye’s a bad person? That’s too far. I know Skye. She’s amazing and talented and sweet and everything there is that’s good about a person.”_

_“Look, I know you’re upset, but I’m serious. I would have never pulled you here if it wasn’t important. Skye’s not who you think she is. She never went to New Zealand, and something changed... it wasn’t supposed to be like this. She was supposed to say out of your life for good, but now she’s back and your whole timeline is changing. Ending sooner than it should.. much sooner. Ripple, you don’t have much time left, and if you want to live, you’ll stop her at all costs.”_

 

I opened my eyes. “Stop her from what?” 

Suddenly I was standing in front of Jess again.

He knitted his eyebrows together. “What?”

“Um, I’m not sure. That was weird.” I rubbed my face with both hands. “I felt like, I don’t know man, like I left this dimension for a bit.”

Jess laughed. “Yeah, you really freaked me out. Your whole face went white and I thought you were going to pass out or die or something. Did you get enough sleep last night?”

“Yeah sorry man I’m just not feeling too well. I think I’m going home.”

Before Jess said anything I turned around and walked away. I heard him shout some condolences at me, but I wasn’t really listening. Something was off, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. 

As I step into my house, I hear my phone ringing. I see Skye’s picture come up, but a sense of fear washes over me and I reject the call. I pause momentarily. Why did I just do that? Ripple, Skye’s a bad person. Suddenly I see very clear image of a man with red hair and red scruff on his face. You don’t have much time Ripple. What? Okay I know I can’t control my thoughts, but this just doesn’t make any sense. I’ve never seen this guy before, or heard anyone say that, but at the same time, I feel like I have. What is going on? 

I flopped onto my bed and stared up at my ceiling. Is there something that I’m missing? 

“My head is fuzzy.” I said out loud. 

After laying on my bed for a few hours drifting in and out of sleep I eventually got up and checked my phone again. 5 missed calls and 15 texts all from Skye. Skye. Every time I see her name I don’t feel like I used to. I used to get butterflies, and a warm feeling spread throughout my whole body, but now it’s almost the opposite. It’s a cold, distant feeling. Almost like I don’t even like her at all anymore.

 

_“Ripple, what are you doing?”_

_I was back in the room again. “I remember! Why did I forget everything? What are you trying to get out of this?”_

_“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how you would react to everything. I promise this time you’ll remember. You can’t tell anyone about you coming here though. I’m seriously. You’ll be physically incapable of telling them.” The guy smirked and sat down on a chair across from me.  
I stared at him. Still super weird that he’s me. “Why didn’t I almost pass out this time though?” _

_“First time’s always the hardest. Your... our body is used to it now.”_

_“What can I call you? We’re both Ripple and it would feel weird calling you by my own name.”_

_“Morgan. I actually go by our middle name. I have been for the past 30 years.”_

_“How lame!” I laughed. “Why would I ever go by Morgan? Ripple is so much cooler!”_

_He gave an exasperated sigh and looked me in the eyes. “Don’t you think it’s, I don’t know, a but juvenile?”_

_I narrowed my eyes and neither of us said anything for a good thirty seconds._

_He broke the silence with, “We should get back on track.”_

_“What did Skye even do that was so bad? I really don’t get it.”_

_“Would you believe me if I told you it was homicide?”_

_That hit my like a brick wall. “Is there a point in not believing you?”_

_He looked at me and shook his head somberly._

_Homicide. Skye’s killed someone. The girl that I thought I loved killed someone. How? When? Why? Suddenly I felt like I was going to be sick. I feel like the past 2 years of my life have been an entire lie._

_“Ripple, you need to keep contact with her if we’re going to stop her. She’s not well. I don’t want to hurt her any more than you do, so we need to stay close. Please help her. You don’t want to know what the future is going to look like for you if you don’t.”_

_“I still love her. I always will. I’ll help her, if it’s the last thing I do.”_

_“Hopefully it won’t be.”_

 

At least I remember this time. I’m still standing here with my phone in my hand. The screen still lit, with 5 missed calls and 15 texts. I couldn’t have been gone for more than 10 seconds in real time, but I’m pretty sure that conversation I had with him, er, myself? Well, I’m pretty sure it was at least 5 minutes. 

I decided to go back to school after lunch. I wasn’t really doing anything, so why not? I also decided to text Skye. She thinks that I got sick and I’m only coming into school to give in some assignments for my classes. I was going to ask her to hang out after school, but honestly, I’m scared. And I’m still taken aback by the whole situation. Even if I could explain to someone what was going on, what would I say? “Oh yeah my math test was great oh and by the way I keep getting pulled into basically friggin purgatory and me after-death keeps talking to me telling me I have a homicidal girlfriend.” That totally wouldn’t put me in a mental hospital, and that’s the last place I should be right now. I should actually be with Skye helping her and preventing her from, killing, I guess.

********

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. I’m at Skye’s house. Why did she have to interrogate me over text about me being sick? Couldn’t she just leave me alone? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do with sick people? After a while I was genuinely starting to feel sick from her aggression. Jesus, was she always like this? So god damn persistent that I actually caved and decided to come over here. And now here I am standing in the middle of her bedroom, terrified out of my mind. Because of her new place, I’ve never been in here before. Her old room had so much life and personality, but this one was bare and uninviting. Out of the corner of eye, something catches my attention. Apparently she had tacked a single photo to her tan wall just above her bed. I figured it’s a photo of her family or something like that, but as I descend upon the picture, I realize it’s a picture of me and her. I knelt on her bed to get a closer look and the door behind me was pushed open. 

“When was this taken?” I asked.

“A few weeks before I left. Remember when we went to that cafe down on Main? I printed it out as soon as I got to New Zealand and it was above my bed there too, so I could always feel like you were right there beside me.” 

She walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. I pretended to be studying the photo, but I was frozen. I thought when she left, we were over. I almost moved on a few times with girls in my school, and I figured she had moved on to guys she met when she left. But I know her now. I know what she does, what she’s about. 

I got off the bed and took her hand in mine. “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

She let go a took a step away. “What? No. Why would you ask something like that?”

I knew it. She’s always been a terrible liar. But a killer? 

“You’ve just been a bit... distant lately. That’s all.” Long pause. “Maybe it’s from moving. Still not situated in I guess.”

She sighed and wrapped her arms around my waist, her head resting on my chest.

“I’m sorry Ripple. Everything is so weird right now. My dad’s half way across the world, my mom hasn’t been herself since we arrived here, and this whole house is so different from my old one. Honestly the only time I’ve felt normal is when I’ve been with you. It’s been 236 long days away from you. All my friends from New Zealand are jealous of us.”

That made me almost throw up on her. 236 days. That’s 33 weeks and 5 days. I’m a different person than I was back then. I’ve had new experiences, met new people, done things I wouldn’t have if I was still with her. Did we even break up? Oh god, did she think that we were still a thing? Damn. I could imagine her going around to all of her new friends at school talking about her ‘boyfriend back home’ and how even though we’re on other sides of the world we’re still better than ever. That is so like her. We didn’t even _talk_ after she left.


End file.
